It's officially illegal to post naked photos of your ex in Arizona

Arizona's new law makes not only uploading to websites, but any kind of distribution of nude photos or videos of another person, a Class 5 felony if the person is unrecognizable, or a Class 4 Felony if they are recognizable.(Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Arizona's latest cyber-bullying law went into effect July 24, making "revenge porn" a felony punishable by a minimum of six months to a year imprisonment and a $150,000 fine.

Revenge porn, also known as non-consensual pornography or cyber rape, is the act of displaying, uploading or publishing photos or video of another person nude or engaged in sexual activities without his or her consent.

The "revenge" is usually an attempt by ex-lovers to publicly humiliate or shame a previous girlfriend or boyfriend with naked pictures posted to websites or distributed among social circles.

But more often than not, it's an ex-girlfriend whose private photos are then shared on such revenge-porn websites as the now defunct isanyoneup.com, a website that featured nude photos (often former romantic partners) submitted by users, alongside the victim's full name, social-media profile, profession and city of residence, all but ensuring that the picture would show up in Google's search results.

Websites like UGotPosted.com and changemyreputation.com have taken advantage of revenge porn to blackmail and coerce victims into paying as much as $350 to have the photos removed.

Arizona's new law makes not only uploading to websites but also any kind of distribution of nude photos or videos of another person a Class 5 felony if the person is unrecognizable or a Class 4 felony if they are recognizable.

The revenge-porn bill, HB 2515, which Brewer signed into law in April, also amended the state's domestic-violence statute to state that revenge porn can be a type of domestic violence.

The law states:

"Prohibits a person from intentionally disclosing, displaying, distributing, publishing, advertising or offering a photograph, videotape, film or digital recording of a person in a state of nudity or engaged in specific sexual activities if the person knows or should have known that the depicted person has not consented to the disclosure."

The law doesn't apply to practices of law enforcement, legal proceedings, medical treatment or "interactive computer services," such as Internet-service providers or hosting servers.

For more information on the impact of revenge porn, how you can help educate the public, or to donate to organizations that advocate for legislation ending online abuse and discrimination, visit endrevengeporn.org.